Homily
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? It's sort of like asking, "Who will Roger Clemens play for in the afterlife?" Will he play in heaven with the Boston Red Sox, or will he play for the Evil Empire in that other place?
Jesus turns a question on marriage, and whose wife will she be, into a further discussion and deeper understanding of heaven. And the fullness of heaven at that.
In our sometimes simplistic way of thinking about the likes of God, heaven, the after life, what's to come ... our belief is that the body separates from the soul, the body returns to the dust from which it came in Genesis, for a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die, and the soul comes into the presence of God as it continues to live on.
This would be called the halfway point. The soul coming into the. presence of God brings us to the halfway point of the book known as the Bible. But the Old Testament only makes sense and finds its completion when you bring it forward into the New Testament. Into the whole story of Jesus Christ.
Whose wife will she be in heaven is a question posed to Jesus that doesn't address the final condition that will fulfill the wife. If the most important question in heaven is 'Who are you going to be married to?" then us priests better get going in the wife department. Otherwise, we have no chance of sneaking past St. Peter and his Pearly Gates.
Whose wife she will be is only half the story, which is why it's not the most important question in eternity. The story is completed in the words of Jesus that this wife, and those like her, are like angels; they are the children of God because they will rise. Now you're talking. Those words bring in the New Testament.
Those words of Jesus complete the deeper meaning of this wife who married the seven brothers. Those words of Jesus complete the deeper meaning of our own lives, and what God will deliver to us like the birth of a healthy new born baby.
"They will rise." Three words that will fulfill the condition of every human being through the power of the living God. At death, which every one of you public safety officials has seen, the soul separates from the body. The words ''they will rise" reunites the dead body with the living soul into a state of endless peace that is so far beyond our capacity to comprehend.
The point in all this is that the human body is so wonderfully sacred.
So sacred to God that the body most of us probably can't stand to look at in the mirror right now will rise into a condition that would make any top model in this world jealous of its beauty. What God touches, and what God has in store for us, cannot be fully copied in this world.
And this is where you men and women involved in all the avenues of public safety are like angels. When's the last time someone called you an angel? An angel ministers to the will of God. The will of God is a will of goodness, and mercy, and assistance; of the compassionate concern for the well-being of others.
Everyone of you has more than likely witnessed firsthand some of the worst conditions of a human body. Between bums, and accidents, and fights and woundings and shootings and stabbings and suicides, you've seen and attended to bodies that were scarred and mangled in ways no human being should have to witness, no less attend to.
I'm sure every firefighter, police officer, EMT, and every person who answers the public safety call can remember and picture vividly at least one call that you went to, and in responding to the call you saw the worst of what this world can do to the flesh. One of those calls that causes you to think, "Now I've seen it all, and Lord, I don't want to see any more!" It happens to the strongest of us.
Which is why you need to bring your job, especially this part of your job, to the whole story of Jesus. When you attend to the dead and dying, to the sick and the overweight. When you attend to tom up bodies, and when you try to talk someone out of committing suicide, you're living out the truth of what Jesus speaks in this Gospel.
You see, Christians don't stop at "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?" You don't stop at, "Well, this body is so distorted that there's nothing further to be done. End of story." No, that's not who you are. Even a body that's amputated in an accident deserves reverence, sanctity, and sensitivity. It's a human being. They have a family. And the greater reason made possible by Jesus Christ is that even those bodies will one day shine like stars in the sky.
Jesus raises the ante on the sacredness of the human body. And in Jesus raising the ante to the ultimate condition, the reuniting of the body and soul, the way we address and serve the needs of others in the present is always cloaked in sacredness and holiness.
Whether a Firefighter, a Police Officer, an EMT, or other public safety official, know that God's Church prays for you that you will continue to respond to your calls in the spirit of the Gospel. Of the whole and complete story of Scripture.
Don't ever settle for, "Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?" There's something greater going on right now, and it's deeply connected to what's to come. Settle always for "they are like angels; children of God who will rise." Because God will take even the worst body, reunite it with the soul, and restore it to a condition that is beyond beautiful. May you carry that Christian truth with you at all times, from the easiest calls to the most difficult calls.
Father Walter J. Riley
Pastor
Immaculate Conception Parish
